


Sirens of Time

by therune



Category: DCU - Comicverse, Doctor Who
Genre: Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-08
Updated: 2012-04-08
Packaged: 2017-11-03 06:33:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/378383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/therune/pseuds/therune
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While investigating a mysterious energy trace that has already eluded him twice, the Doctor stumbles over an old friend and discovers a new menace.</p><p>(ps: this title has nothing to do with the Big Finish audio of the same name)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sirens of Time

Over the years, people have always asked questions. Big questions, little questions, smart questions, stupid questions, and questions with obvious answers. There are more questions in a man's mind than there are stars in the sky. The questions are also as diverse as life itself. Questions are asked by mostly hairless primates, by giant slugs, by telepathic insectoids, by living metal people, by life that is light, by beasts with tentacles and beaks, by hairy creatures with red eyes, by lifeforms based on xenon who metabolize pure hydrogen, by life that has died and still goes on, by gestalt entities and by butterflies made of glass who speak with sounds like flutes. But there are a few questions that persist, a few questions that everyone has asked.

What is the purpose of life? Where do we come from? Why?

Those are the important questions. Those which have no answer and a million at once. One of those questions is: "What is time?"

For some, time is a line; it has a start, a now and an end. Once a moment is gone, it's gone forever.

For others, time is a loop, a neverending circle that repeats itself eternally, but is so wide that nobody who is alive can ever notice.

Some say that time is a web; events connected to each other by filigran strings, everything depending on everything, strong, but so fragile. Something to be protected, to be maintained, to be fixed when broken.

For one person, time is actually more like a big ball of timey-wimey wibbly-wobbly stuff. Not that he will actually voice that for several centuries, but he thinks of time as this. Only more eloquently put, because he has class. Words are the most fun if they are quartosyllabic at least.

 

"It is most fascinating," the Doctor said with a smile. "The rock shape in the Sayoke-Desert on Tevamon Prime is so peculiar that when the wind blows through them, symphonies are created. People from all over the galaxy come to hear it. One particular formation on the southern border, when the wind comes from north-northwest sounds, like Bach's St Matthew's Passion."

"I don't suppose the rocks could play something more contemporary?"

"Peri! Those rocks have existed for eons, they are the most extraordinary thing in the cosmos and you want contemporary music?" The Doctor almost spat out the last two words.

"Sorry, Doctor," Peri said.

The Doctor turned back to the console, and started to hum while he pressed a few buttons. The TARDIS beeped and suddenly lurched, throwing Peri against the edge of the console. She screamed while the Doctor desperately hung on and tried to stop the TARDIS' rollercoaster ride.

"What is going on?" she yelled.

"I don't know," the Doctor yelled back, "but it's not good!"

"No kidding!"

With a particularly violent shudder, the TARDIS came to a halt. The beeping noise still persisted.

"What is that? The TARDIS never made such noise before."

"That's because it isn't the TARDIS at all," the Doctor explained. He pulled at a section underneath the console and opened a drawer. He took out a rectangular device, not bigger than a man's palm. The beeping got louder and with a "ha!" the Doctor looked at a little display on it. "After all this time."  
He stuffed the object into his coat pocket, muffling the sound.  
"Peri, would you mind looking at the scanner and telling me where we are?"

"What? No, I guess," she answered and did as she was asked.  
"We're home, I mean, we're in America. In Kansas."

"Keystone City, is it not?"

"Yes, but how did you know that?"

"It means they're back. Come on, Peri, we have a mystery to solve!"

With that, he opened the doors with great flourish and stepped outside.

 

James Jesse was a man of many talents. He had had seen so much and done much more. When he had been younger, barely more than child, he had left home, had left the circus behind to spread his wings, to live his life as he wanted and to go wherever he wanted whenever he wanted. His new life was full of danger, of risks and of great fun and the best friends ever. Life was a game, and he was one of the star players. Sure, he may have stepped over some boundaries here, broke a few laws there, but all in all, it had been a pretty good life. He had just come back from his biggest adventure yet when it all changed. Jokes weren't as fun anymore, good times become less and less and between them was much more sorrow. The big game was painful, in a way. No one had before played to win, they had played for the game's sake. And now, people were so determined, so anxious and willing to risk, to sacrifice so much more. One of his friends died, then another, and one day, almost all of them were gone. He felt like he was the one left, so, when a chance presented itself, when it seemed like finally someone listened to him and wanted to make his dreams come true, he was intrigued. But it was too good to be true, and the game became more deadly than ever before. James made a decision to change, to stop mourning and wishing things were different. Now, he would make the change. He would make a difference.

It seemed to be a normal day. James woke up, showered for an unnecessarily long time, got dressed and turned on the radio while he made breakfast. He was in a good mood so he whisteled along to the tune, when there was another sound. He hadn't heard it in years, but he recognized it instantly. Naturally, he jumped out of his 5th floor window, hair still wet, clothes clinging to his damp body and a huge grin on his face.

The air must have been cold, the wind extremely sharp and his lungs must have been bruning, but James never felt it. On his airwalkers, he ran through the sky, getting faster and faster still. It felt like waking up from a really long sleep, from a strange dream where the world was muffled. But now he could see, he could breathe, he could hear. And he could feel. And everything came back. He remembered a hundred adventures with not melancholy but joy, recalled a thousand dangers and felt giddy and thought of an old friend and didn't feel like weeping. It was as if the sound had cut through a curtain that kept him distant from life, from reality. And although James did not have a name for this change, it had one: hope. He thought, not with words, but feelings. Hope - Anticipation - Joy - Hope - Hope.

James raced towards the blue box, led by pure instinct or maybe something more. The people below who did not see him were just blurs, the buildings he passed streaks of grey.  
He ran, faster than ever before, because this once, he was running towards someting and not away or just for the sake of running. He felt purpose again. This was how he could change things, how he could make a difference again. James felt like he mattered.

The Doctor will do that to you.

 

Peri was following the Doctor and had just closed the doors behind her when, out of the blue, or rather the sky, something pounced on the Doctor. The Doctor staggered back and a million thoughts raced through Peri's brain in one terror-filled monent, until the Doctor started ....laughing?  
She took a closer look at the thing that had assaulted the Doctor and it was not thing at all, it was a man. He had plastered himself to the Doctor's front, wrapping both arms and legs around his body, looking like a very weird octopus.

"I'm also glad to see you," the Doctor said fondly and patted the man's shoulder.

"You came back," was the muffled reply, "you really came back."

"Now, now, is that so hard to believe?"

The man was saying "well" at the same time Peri confirmed the Doctor's statement with a definite "yes."

She still couldn't make out very much. This old friend of the Doctor seemed to consist of a lot of blond hair, a leather jacket and truly atrocious yellow pants with black stripes. Clearly someone with the Doctor's sense of fashion.

"Come on, let me go now," the Doctor said and gently pushed at the other man.

"I don't wanna," the man said, petulantly like a child. Peri looked closer at the two shades of blond, at the two pair of pants, and then started laughing.

"Peri!" the Doctor said exasperated, "this isn't funny. And you, let go now."

"No," the answer followed.

Peri only laughed harder. She really shouldn't have let the mental image of this man being the Doctor's son creep into her mind, but now it was there. It really would be too funny.

"James," the Doctor said with an air of authority in his voice. That must be the man's name. He then finally let go. "Peri, may I introduce my good old friend James? Peri, James. James, that's Peri."

Peri mustered the man closely. James was devastatingly handsome; tanned skin, perfect teeth and warm, clear blue eyes.

"Charmed," James replied and took her hand gracefully before kissing it.

"Are you a Victorian gentleman whe Doctor misplaced in the 20th century?" she asked with a grin.

"Not at all," James answered cheekily and winked at her. He was getting only more handsome when he smiled.

"That is no gentleman, Peri, you should watch out. He's a thief. A common crook."

"Hey, I take offense to that. Common? Please, I am the best conman around."

"Oh yes, he's a thief, a conman, an acrobat, an actor, an entertainer, a dancer and what not. But he's still a thief, Peri."

"I'll be sure to watch my pearls then," she replied.

Everyone smiled.

"It really is good to see you again, Doctor."

"Likewise, dear James."

"But I know that this is no social visit. Is there an alien invasion you have to stop? Cybermen, Daleks, intergalactic cult of devil worshippers?"

"It's them."

"It's who?" Peri asked.

"Them. The TARDIS picked up an energy trace, emissions from time travel. This is a particular trace, I've seen it before and have already chased it to no avail. Coincidently, when I first investigated the trace, that is when I met James here. How long was that ago?"

"Give or take six years."

"And now they're back and they will not get away this time."

As in confirmation, the beeping noise that had been muffled intensified. The Doctor pulled out the device and slowly turned around.

"Hey, that is where my Trickster Tracer went!"

"Cobbled together from parts of my TARDIS."

"I still claim creative ownership."

"What is a Trickster Tracer?" Peri asked.

"A molecular scanner programmable to pick up traces and indicate type, distance and moving direction. I wanted to link it up to the Hypernet, but someone thought I could cause a rip in the fabric of time by connecting this tech to an intergalactic high-speed data network."

The someone being the Doctor replied. "You would cause a rip because the hypernet is a two-way information highway and a device, built from TARDIS spare parts which frequently travels in time, could reveal future or forgotten knowledge and could lead to one of the billions of hypernet users changing the future. And that will lead to disastrous results, possibly a paradox and, if we're unlucky, the end of the universe. So, no - the Tracer stays as it is."

Peri looked at James. "Are you some sort of alien? Because, you just sounded a lot like the Doctor there."

"No, he's completely human, not from the future and before you ask, Peri, he was like that before I met him."

"You mean a dashing, handsome rogue?" James asked with a wink.

"I was going for eccentric and possibly colorblind techno-babbler, but that works, too," Peri replied.

"Blast!" the Doctor exclaimed and wandered in a circle around them both, holding the Tracer up in the air. The beeping had become not unlike the sound a tape recorder emits when it is destroying a tape. "Give me a minute here."

"So, how did you meet?" Peri asked curiously, "aren't you surprised that the Doctor changed? You didn't seem to mind or even notice."

"Change? What change?"

"His new face, the new outfit. Didn't you see it just now?"  
"What new outfit? I have to admit, the coat is largely responsible for our meeting. If I hadn't been intrigued by this magnificent coat, then-"

"Magnificent? That thing? Then again, look at what you're wearing. No, wait - that is not possible. I have been with the Doctor through his change, and if you know him like this now, you can't be from his past, but you can't be from the future, since the Doctor knows you as you are and remembers you from his past. So, you are part of his past, but not before the change. But that's impossible since I never met you. So, just who are you, mister?"

"Very good, Peri. You see, I have a confession to make," the Doctor interjected, "Remember when we were on Sarion III where I had to repark the TARDIS? I'm afraid that while from your point of view I was gone for a few minutes, I actually traveled with James for a year or so."

"What?!"

"It's true, Peri."

"Do you do this often, Doctor? Leaving your friends alone for a couple of minutes while you spends years breezing around the universe?"

"No, of course not. Well, it happens sometimes, but I don't do it deliberately. You see, while I was in the vortex, I picked up a strange energy trace. This trace, in fact. It was coming from earth in the early 1990s, from here. The trace was already fading so I couldn't wait to pick you up and decided to investigate immediately. But when I arrived, I could not find who was responsible. No spaceships, no aliens, no time ship. Instead, I stumbled over James. One thing led to another and we went exploring the universe, trying to find that trace."

"And you didn't come back to pick me up because..?"

"Well, that, um..." the Doctor looked embarrassed, "we were caught up in our own events, never a chance to relax and take detours."

"Detour? Is that what I am, a detour?"

"No, no, Peri."

"Hey, don't look at me like that, I never knew you existed. Be mad at him."

"James!"

"Trust me, I will."

"Peri!"

The beeping was back with a vengeance.

"Aha!" the Doctor shouted and took off. "Come along, you two!"

 

It was exactly six years two months, two weeks and one day ago, since the Doctor had met James. Or James met the Doctor, depending on whom you ask. As the Doctor said, he had been on Sarion III, a planet that was 90% spa and 10% gourmet restaurant. But he had landed a tad awkwardly half-behind a pillar and while Peri had no problem squeezing herself through the tiny opening, the Doctor....well, he opted for the more dignified route and decided to simply land elsewhere. He told Peri he'd be right back before he dematerialized. She had already run off to check out the non-mud mud baths. As he threw the switch to close the doors and took off, the TARDIS picked up a strange energy trace - time travel emissions in the 20th century on earth. But the trace was faint at best and he decided to investigate immediately. Peri always told him that he had a time macine, so why not use it? He'd just return to one minute after he left. Just one little trip.

Naturally, it didn't turn out to be that easy. By the time he arrived, the trace had faded into nothingness. And in turn, he ran into James. At first, he suspected James to be the cause of the energy, but despite all the evidence seemingly pointed at him, it was a big coincidence. Colorful striped clothes the Doctor approved of, a gun that shot bubbles and shoes that let him walk on air. The Doctor thought "timetraveling anti-grav acrobat" at first, but it turned out that James was a normal, present day thief. Well, he didn't mention the thief-part until they were on a colony on Titan and the Doctor found the missing golden crown sitting on his chair in the TARDIS. What followed was a long talk about morale, about the Doctor's morale and then they agreed to disagree and James promised to stop stealing. What the Doctor didn't know, was that James had then switched to conning people to get their money and then simply buy what he wanted with that money. You'd think that the Doctor would learn at some point not to leave James unsupervised on intergalactic markets, bazar planets and basically anywhere where he could get his hands on future or alien tech. But he never did. At some point, the Doctor and James got derailed - their search for the mysterious energy trace was secondary.

They fought the Daleks on Pramasol. Their main plan was "dress James up like the Doctor and divert the Daleks' attention away from the Doctor" who quietly manipulated the power supply and defeated them. To his dismay, not even the people of Pramasol noticed that James was not, in fact, the Doctor.

The battle with the Cybermen was won by James confusing the cybercontroller, the fight against the mole people was decided by the colorfulness of their costumes (easiest fight ever) and when the Neo-grecian Philology Appreciation Society thought that recreating the Trojan War was a great idea and chose superdimensional soulvores as their gods which then tried to kill them all, the fight was ended with handpuppets. The Doctor never knew when exactly James had made a puppet of him, but there it was - blond curly hair, colorful coat and a slight scowl.

They did have fun - the Doctor always thought that James was enjoying the chases way too much - but after their time on Auryalis, it seemed like their time was over. The Doctor admitted that he was probably too caught up with his search for the trace. And, he did miss Peri. James seemed homesick, just for a bit. Shortly after that, their travels ended. They parted on good terms, with a hug and "give me back the key you just stole". James didn't mention the other key he had taken and the Doctor never brought up that the Tracer was still lying on the console. After that, the Doctor went back to Sarion III, parked carefully not behind a pillar and met up with Peri.

 

 

"They are here, follow me!" the Doctor shouted. Peri ran right beside him and James, always being contrary, ran above them in the air.

"How do you do that?" Peri asked.

"I defy laws of nature on a regular basis."

"Actually, it's anti-gravity technology."

"Where did you get it?"

"I built it."

"Really?"

"He really is too clever for his own good."

"You didn't complained when I used that cleverness to beat the Fangdorn tribe. Or the giant moths. Or-"

"We get the picture."

"It really must be weird," Peri said.

"What?"

"Being around someone who is exactly as smug, clever and colorful as yourself."

 

The beeping turned into a continuous tone and the Doctor stopped. "Here! Come out, come out, we know you're here."

Here you are. Oh, Doctor, thank you. You brought him to us. You gave us just what we wanted.

And then, they saw who was responsible. There were a group of beings. They seemed to float in the air, as if the air was water and they were jellyfish. They looked humanoid, except for their long necks and black, oily skin that no human could ever have. Peri was reminded of sealife, of something that lived in the ocean. Their voices were melodic, slightly hypnotic and Peri felt strangely compelled to listen.

"What are you talking about?" the Doctor demanded to know.

You brought us the one we want. You brought us the one who changes time.

"What do you want with the Doctor?"

Nothing. We want the Trickster.

"Um...why? You can have a timelord and you want me? I'm flattered but why me?"

You made the machine. You made the thing that changes time. We are the Chronomortualia. We need it. Give it to us.

"I think you are sorely mistaken," the Doctor said. "Peri, James, plan A, if you please."

"Run?"

"Run!"

 

"Who are these?" Peri asked while they were running away.

"Chronomortualia. They are sirens who devour time. They sing, lure people to their lair and then feed on their lives, on everything these people could have been. But why are they here? It's true, they can use the time they took not only for nourishment, but transportation is unheard of - it uses up a huge amount of time and, it's really not worth it. Why are they here?"

"And what machine are they talking about?" Peri added.

The Doctor turned his head. "Oh James, what have you done now?"

James, instead of grinning and telling a story in which he was either the hero or a victim and which made the Doctor always laugh, shot him an icy glare. "Don't act like an innocent in all this. After what you did to me....and I've been good. I didn't interefere. I didn't use my knowledge of the future to change time. And even when I wanted to, I never told anyone. All I did was to protect your stupid web of time."

"What is going on?"

"They want the Reality Rearranger."

"The what?"

"Reality Rearranger. I built it, and I've hidden it. They are probably expecting me to lead them to it right now."

"But you're not, right?"

"Can someone please explain what the hell is going on?"

"Ask the Doctor what he did on Auralys."

"Fine, Doctor, what happened on Auralys?"

"The...oh."

Yes. Oh."

"What oh?"

"Like with you on Sarion, I spotted this trace, the Chronomortualia and I went to investigate. But James had already left and so I went alone. I still couldn't find anything, so I returned to Auralys. Like with you, I returned just a minute later."

"And that is where you are wrong. Your piloting skills are abysmal. You left me there for a year. You left me on an alien planet with no goodbye, no reason and no means to get home. And even if I had found a way to get home, it would be in the year 3244, so everyone I ever knew was dead."

"What?"

"Yes. You left me. On a planet with an university of technology with a sector in transdimensional engineering. Guess what I did for a year?"

"You went to university?"

"Yes. And I built the reality rearranger."

"Why?" Peri wanted to know.

"Because it is impossible to build one," the Doctor said, "you never could resist a challenge, could you, James? But, it literally is impossible to build that. You'd need an immense amount of energy. You'd need something like access to the eye of harmony, to the energy of a trapped black hole. Wait - no, you didn't somehow try to access the circuit of the eye?"

"No, please. I solved the problem."

"How?"

"Simple. I built the reality rearranger and the first change I programmed was that the rearranger could function without this immense energy input."

"But that wouldn't work, it would have to be turned on first. And you can't do that without power."

"Except by telling the machine it didn't need to have any."

"You can't convince a machine to listen to you."

"I have a master in transdimensional engineering. I am smart. I am the Trickster and when I hear that something is impossible, I make it possible. And by turning on the machine after programming it to rearrange reality to work without energy input, I don't need any energy."

"That'...that's genius!"

"Does it work? Yes. But as I said, I was good. I didn't use it. How do those Chronomortualia know about it? I've never told anyone about it."

"No one knows about it yet. Maybe someone will hear of it in 1000 years and then the Chronomortualia heard about it and decided to take it. Of course, this is it. With the reality rearranger, they can get themselves an endless food source. Not to mention they have the power to change reality. They could be gods."

"And you just have this lying around? And you never use it?"

James turned to her and his smile, suddenly, it was frightening.

"No. But how I've wanted it. When I think of how much I could have done, have stopped, have changed. And I wanted to so much. But, I have seen what happens when you mess with time, what happens with everyone who gives into temptation. It always ends badly. Usually ended by you."

"That is...strong, James. You did the right thing. But now we need to stop the Chronomortualia from getting to the rearranger."

"Really? I think we should lead them right to it, say how they shouldn't use it because so much power shouldn't exist and then use it to defeat them."

"Peri."

"What? Problem solved."

"Didn't you just hear what we said about interfering with time?"

"Yes, but let's face it - you do it all the time. And if someone else does it, it's wrong?"

"She has a point, Doctor."

Yes, I have. Where are we running to, exactly?"

"So far, that's the way to an excellent ice cream parlour."

"James!"

"I don't want to get some, we're just running that way anyway."

"Can't someone think about the time-eating sirens?"

"Right, Peri. Any ideas, James?"

"My workshop. I left most of my gear there, didn't take anything with me when I heard the TARDIS. Invisibility cloak, t-bombs, yo-yo, fishing rod - we could drop anvils! I have five left."

"Do you have superstrength, too?"

"No, but anti-grav tech that defies nature allows me to lift any weight I want, provided the object is small enough to fit in the field of gravity-negation."

"What?"

"Yes, Peri, I have superstrength."

"You are not dropping anvils on people!"

"Pianos?"

"No!"

"Could we go to the TARDIS and erect a time-banishment field or something?"

"That's nonsense, Peri."

"We could go to workshop, take the rearranger and use the TARDIS to drop it into a black hole, making the Chronomortualia either follow it or give up."

"I'm all for this plan. Doctor?"

"Let's do this!"

 

In the workshop - which was a strange mix between a circus, a high-tech facility and bubbling chemicals in vials. James rose to the ceiling - and how weird was that? - and fetched a silver tube from behind a lamp. The Doctor was working on bait for the Chronomortualia, a device that would emit slight artron radiation, drawing the aliens there.

"This is it? The reality rearranger? Doesn't look like much, really."

"Yep. I still can't believe I built that."

"Why would you build a possible doomsday machine if you didn't plan on ever using it?"

"Acting out? I was young and bitter and alone on an alien planet."

"Do you always break the laws of reality when you're acting out?"

"Thinking about it....yes, actually."

He began to spin the tube like a drum stick.

"Can you not juggle with that, please?"

"I can, but the question is - will I do that? And we all know the answer to that one - no."

"You never change, do you?"

"Nah."

"Doctor, how exactly are we going to get to the TARDIS once we have lured the Chronomortualia here?"

"That is a very good question, Peri. James?"

"Trickstermobile."

"I hope that is a motorized vehicle and not a tricycle."

"This time, it will be."

"This time?"

"I'll explain later, Peri."

 

"Do you hear that?"

"Yes, this song. Compelling, isn't it? That is how they hunt - they sing, they lure, they make you want to come to them. And once you're in their spell, you cannot escape."

"Man, I have a friend who would be all over that. He's a master of music, sultan of sound, the pied piper."

"You like alliteration, don't you?"

"Oh yes." James grinned, "I think it's showtime."

"Get behind me, Peri, best to stay as far away from them as possible. No need to overexpose ourselves."

"They're here, Doctor, they're here."

 

James threw the rearranger into the air, it spun twice and landed back in his palm. The door swung open, revealing the Chronomortualia. Their voices were so beautiful, so beguiling.

You have the machine, little Trickster. Give it to us. We need it, we need time.

James took one step forward.

We have sung for you, have called to you two times already, but you weren't who you were supposed to be. You were a child when we needed the man. But you are right now. You have built the machine. Give us the machine.

James took another step.

"Doctor, what?"

"Don't worry, Peri, he will never fall for that. He is too strong."

Is he? He was a child, lost in the stars when he built the machine. He was so weak, and so angry about his weakness. We saw him, before, during and after you came. He has not changed. Give us the machine. Give us time.

James extended the hand holding the reality rearranger. It trembled.

With this machine, we can rule the cosmos. We will have time, and freedom to be anywhere, to do anything, to feed on who we want. All those lives, they will be ours. Hand it over.

"Doctor, there is just one thing I want to say."

"James, it is alright. You are strong, don't believe them."

"No, Doctor. I am sorry for deceiving you. I really am the best damn conman. This plan here, it will never work. But I never intended it to."

"James, no!"

"Farewell, Chronomortualia."

And then, from one second to the next, they were gone. There was no bang, no flash, no ashes, no smoke. They just ceased to be.

"What have you done?!" the Doctor shouted, "didn't you listen to any of what I told you? Have you learned nothing?!"

"No, Doctor, I did learn. I understand now. I had to do this, the rearranger had to be used. I altered reality - removing the threat from the now, which alerted the Chronomortualia in the first place. This time loop had to be stabilized, don't you see? I couldn't risk a paradox, couldn't risk me never having met you."

"What are you talking about?" Peri asked.

"It's....you don't mean. Oh my dear James, I am sorry. Now I see."

"See what, Doctor?"

"Peri, the energy traces which led me to discover James, to inadvertantly abandon him and to meet him here again were all left by the Chronomortualia which were trying to find the right point in time at which James would have already built the rearranger. But they missed him, they admitted it. When did you work that out, James?"

"As soon as I realized that they wanted the rearranger. Their first trip lead to me constructing the machine, their second try led you to find me and the third brought you back here. But they would only try to find me if they knew that the rearranger existed, so it had to have been used at some point. And that point, was their undoing. It was their being wiped out of existence that created all this, that made us travel together. So I knew it had to happen, otherwise we would have never met, otherwise you couldn't possibly be here."

"So," Peri said, "the Chronomortualia caused their own destruction by making you two meet, seperate and reunite? Wow, they really got what was coming to them."

"Truer words have never been spoken. I want to apologize, James, for everything. I should have believed you. Just, why did you never say anything after Auralys? Why did you never tell me that I left you?"

"Because it was too late to change it anyway, and I had sensed since before then that you were missing something. Remember, best conman of the world here, reading people is what I do. We just didn't click as we used to. Now I know that you missed your Peri, and who can blame your for that? And I knew that it was time for me to grow up, at least a bit. You showed me that I could be great, that I could be more than who I ever thought I could be. And I thank you for that."

The Doctor walked over and hugged James firmly.

"It is I who has to thank you, my dear boy."

James returned the hug. "Does this mean goodbye?" he asked in a small voice.

"Surely not. We still have to do something about that rearranger of yours. And, well, I do owe you one year, don't I?"

"Now that I think of it, maybe it really were two."

The Doctor laughed. Peri walked over to them and he slung his arms around them both.

"Look at us, the universe won't know what hit it."

"Let's go!" Peri cheered.

"Just one second," James said and rushed to a closet in the corner of the workshop. He opened it and pulled out a blue duffel bag.

"Now we can go."

"Is that...you packed your bags in case I came back?"

"Yes."

"Do I want to know what's in there?"

"No."

"Fine. Off to one more adventure."

 

 

Time can be rewritten. Time can't be changed. Time is eternal. Time is in perpetual flux. There are fixed points in time. Everything is relative.

 

 

....well, mostly.


End file.
